Aishwarya Sridhar grew up in New Panvel, on the edge of the biodiverse foothills of Matheran, an ecosystem that holds nearly 7–8% of the world’s recorded species. A graduate in Mass Media, with Cambridge A Levels in Business and Accounting, she was raised in a family that balanced structure and creativity. Her father, Sridhar Ranganathan, a Chartered Accountant and former Vice President at Vodafone, taught her financial discipline while her mother, Rani Sridhar, an advertising professional and homemaker, nurtured storytelling instincts.
Her earliest memories are of forests, fireflies, and quiet ecological change. “As I grew older, I watched that world slowly change, forests gave way to highways, and the fireflies disappeared.” That loss ignited a purpose in her. A turning point came when she watched Life with Sir David Attenborough. If a documentary could make her care about Komodo dragons from her living room, she reasoned, perhaps she could do the same for India’s wildlife.
Conservation through Storytelling
Today, Aishwarya is a National Geographic Explorer, Canon EOS Influencer, and Associate Fellow at the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP). As the co-founder and CEO of Bambee Studios, she leads a full-service production house specialising in natural history and environmental documentaries for global broadcast.
“I don’t see my work as content creation, I see it as conservation through storytelling,” she says. “My camera is simply the bridge between two worlds, the wilderness and people who may never step into it.”
Her productions have aired on National Geographic WILD, Arte, CuriosityStream, NHK, KBS, and Love Nature. Her photography has appeared in National Geographic magazine, BBC Wildlife, The Guardian, Mongabay, Digital Camera, The Times of India, and Sanctuary Asia. In 2020, she became the first Indian woman to win at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards in London, and she has received honours including the Princess Diana Award and recognition as one of 50 Explorers Changing the World by The Explorers Club, NYC. Her latest film, The Fading Star, earned a 2025 Wildscreen Panda Awards nomination for Emerging Talent.
For Aishwarya, impact is deeply personal. “When someone tells me a photograph changed how they see wildlife, I know the work has served its purpose.”
Depth Over Spectacle
“What I do goes beyond documenting wildlife,” she explains. “I translate the lives of animals and ecosystems into emotional, visual narratives that help people connect with nature in a deeply personal way.”
Her philosophy rejects spectacle. Wildlife, she insists, is not a subject but a character, requiring patience, sensitivity, and respect. Through Bambee Studios, she combines cinematic craft with conservation storytelling, bringing fragile ecosystems right into people’s living rooms.’ Her leadership style is rooted in empathy and purpose. “Filmmaking is not about speed or volume; it is about depth, authenticity, and impact.”
A Tigress Named Maya
Her journey began not with a business plan, but with wonder, and a tigress named Maya. From 2012 to 2018, she documented Maya in Tadoba. Watching the tigress defend herself against a gaur and later employ a survival strategy to protect her cubs became the foundation of Queen of Taru, her breakout film. “That film validated my belief that storytelling could be a powerful tool for conservation.” Four years later, Bambee Studios was born, an evolution of that belief into an enterprise.
Leading Without Apology
Breaking into a male-dominated field brought bias and doubt. “There were moments when my creative input was dismissed,” she recalls. Being young and female in physically demanding, technical environments required resilience. “I let my work speak.”
Her academic grounding in business enabled her to navigate contracts, budgeting, and co-productions with confidence. Over time, results replaced skepticism with respect. “The challenges taught me to build a career not by fitting into the system, but by changing it from within.”
Looking ahead, she is developing a slate of feature documentaries and series that push the boundaries of natural history storytelling, projects rooted in the wild, elevated by human emotion and innovation.
Respect Above All
“At the heart of everything I do is one belief: storytelling can change how people feel, and feelings can change how people act.”
She refuses to rush stories or disturb wildlife for a shot. “The forest works on its own time.” Authenticity and community inclusion remain non-negotiable. “Local voices must be heard, not as background, but as storytellers.”
Her grounding rituals are simple: quiet time in nature, revisiting old footage, and remembering the balcony in Matheran where fireflies once blinked.
“The one value I will never compromise on is respect, for the wild, for the truth of the story, and for the people whose lives are intertwined with these landscapes.”
Build Legacies
“To the next generation of women entrepreneurs: Don’t let gender limit your dreams.”
She urges women to pair passion with financial literacy. “Understand budgets. Know the value of your work. Creativity needs sustainability to survive.”
“Do not wait for permission. Start where you are. Stay authentic. Because when women lead with purpose and clarity,” she says, “they don’t just build businesses, they build legacies.”
